


A Rainy Night

by whcalmwaves



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 01:12:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5848084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whcalmwaves/pseuds/whcalmwaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance encounter on a rainy night led Mark to realise his own feelings. But would these feelings lead anywhere?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rainy Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to a doctor AU that I am working on and hope to post soon. I decided to post this separately as this is written mainly from Mark’s point of view and gives a glimpse into his thoughts. I hope you will enjoy reading this.

It was finally the end of an extremely busy week. Mark breathed a sigh of relief as he shut down his laptop after reviewing various cases of upcoming surgery in preparation for the following week, his final task of the day after a long day of patient consultations, rounds at the wards, reviewing patient records and writing medical reports. In other words, a typical day in the life of a doctor working in the city’s largest hospital. It was exhausting at times, but Mark would not change it for the world. He left his native Australia after several years serving as an emergency doctor in a local hospital, and went to the UK to further his training specialising in cardiology. Through the years, Mark had established himself as one of the finest in the field and was a much respected cardiologist. He was extremely happy in what he did in his profession, fulfilling his childhood dream to be a doctor. 

Nevertheless, some downtime was welcomed especially after such a long week, and Mark was keen to get home to relax and unwind. He had a simple dinner of home-made soup sitting in the fridge waiting for him at home, something that he made for himself a couple of days back. Besides being a great doctor, Mark was pretty adept in cooking too. A skill that came in quite handy, since Mark lived on his own. He would sometimes cook a large batch of something that he liked, and freeze portions of it so that he could come back to home-cooked food on busy days like this. The idea of some warm soup was very welcomed at that moment, as it had started to rain heavily as Mark prepared to leave.

He had driven some distance away from the hospital and was stopped by the traffic light, waiting for the light to turn. As he casually looked out of his window, he noticed a person walking alone on the pavement by the road. The person was totally drenched by the heavy downpour with no protection from the rain, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to seek shelter as he walked slowly. Mark noticed that the person was walking with a limp, which probably explained his walking speed despite looking like he was chilled to the bone with his arms wrapped tightly around his rather slight frame. Mark couldn’t help but think that the profile of the person looked somewhat familiar. At that instant, the person happened to look in his direction, and the latter immediately recognised him which prompted him to roll down his window and call out “Dr Alonso!”

Fernando was definitely not having the best start to the weekend. As a paediatrician working in the same hospital as Mark, he too had some crazy hours of work tending to his many young patients. Like Mark, Fernando was dedicated to his profession and an extremely hard working and well-liked doctor. He found his job rewarding and fulfilling, although on occasions the sufferings of patients so young did have a heart wrenching effect even on one as professional as him. Fernando was winding down on his long week by going for a jog near the hospital. However, he was not able to switch off completely as he ran, still thinking intently on a case. His absent-mindedness resulted in him running into a bicycle and Fernando was knocked onto the ground, scraping his knees and twisting one of his ankles. The young biker apologised and went on his way, as Fernando managed to stand and started to walk back slowly as his ankle hurt. Unfortunately for him, the skies opened soon after, and heavy rain pelted mercilessly on Fernando. He tried to hail a cab but there was none available in such a downpour. He had no choice but to slowly limp his way back to the hospital.

At the sound of his name being called, Fernando looked towards the car stopped by the road. The window was wound down and the driver was waving at him. He couldn’t see who it was in the heavy downpour and could not recognise the car. He took a few steps towards the car as the driver continued to gesture at him, but Fernando had no clue what it was about. 

As soon as Mark recognised Fernando, he wanted to get him out of the rain into the shelter of his car. He worked with Fernando on a few cases and had a good impression of the Spaniard. Mark would always remember their first meeting which took place quite abruptly. He had just joined this hospital for about a week and was settling well in his new job. He was doing his rounds one morning and as he turned a corner, he was unexpectedly hit by something, or rather someone with some force which resulted in him being knocked against the wall. His annoyance was tempered when he saw that the offender ended up in a worse state, being knocked onto the floor with the pile of papers he was holding scattered around. He realised the person who ran into him was a fellow doctor from the hospital coat that he wore, and it seemed that the unknown doctor was in a great hurry as he instantly got onto his knees to gather his papers. Mark bent to help him gather the papers but he could not see the other man’s face as it was hidden by his longish hair. Mark did notice and could not help but admire the long golden brown curls that adorned the person’s crown. The next moment, the head of brown curls looked up and said a soft “Sorry”, the rolling of the r’s sounded like a Spanish accent, and thanked Mark as he handed him the papers. Then he was gone, running down the corridor that Mark came from, probably hurrying to attend an emergency situation. Despite the briefness of the encounter, Mark was intrigued by this fellow colleague whom he did not even know the name of. Perhaps it was the deep honey brown eyes that gazed so briefly at him that attracted Mark’s attention; they were full of life and had that special sparkle, as if there were many untold stories behind. The next few days as he walked the corridors on his ward visits, he looked around more than usual to hopefully catch a glimpse of his fellow colleague (although he would not admit it to himself) but to no avail. 

Fortunately for him, his intrigue did not last beyond a couple of weeks. He was introduced to Dr Fernando Alonso by his department head when they went to a meeting with the team of paediatric doctors at the hospital to discuss various cases of young patients with heart diseases. Thereafter, Mark’s interaction with Fernando was mainly on professional matters. Through these interactions, Mark found him to be a highly intelligent and dedicated doctor who worked tirelessly to pursue cures for his young patients. Mark was glad to ascertain that Fernando was indeed Spanish, although why he was glad about that fact he did not know. Perhaps it was because he liked the way the r’s roll off Fernando’s tongue. Mark also found out that the Spaniard was a brilliant student who won a scholarship to attend medical school in England and continued with his postgraduate specialist training in paediatrics in the country. The Aussie had found Fernando to be a friendly person with a wry sense of humour striking at unexpected times, even though the Spaniard seemed to be rather shy and reserved in general.

There was however one occasion whereby Mark got a glimpse into the person behind Dr Alonso’s calm professional façade. A get together with a few of the hospital‘s doctors was organised by Jenson Button, a radiologist who was a very popular and sociable doctor amongst the younger group of doctors. The group opted for dinner and drinks on a Friday night. According to Jenson, this was a rare occasion where Fernando joined them, so the Brit insisted that he buy them a round of drinks which the Spaniard generously agreed. The atmosphere was genial and everyone was having a good time chatting. Mark sat near to Fernando and Jenson, and was regaling them with tales from his times in Australia. After a while, he discovered that Fernando had gone very quiet. His gentle smile from earlier in the evening had disappeared and he was drinking glass after glass of wine. Jenson was looking at Fernando with some concern and tried to discourage the Spaniard from drinking. With help from Mark, Jenson put the bottles of wine out of Fernando’s reach to stop him from drinking too quickly. However, the Spaniard managed to get himself more drinks at the bar after giving an excuse of going to the bathroom. By the time Jenson spotted him and pulled him back, he was already drunk. Even in his drunken state, the Spaniard was quite quiet and did not create much fuss, although he did attempt to get more to drink which Jenson and Mark managed to stop. Eventually, he just rested his head against the back of his chair. Mark could discern that he had descended into a very sad mood even though he could not understand what had happened to cause this depression. 

As Jenson was meeting his girlfriend later in the night, Mark volunteered to send Fernando home, after finding out his address from Jenson. The ride to Fernando’s place was relatively quiet, apart from some initial protests from the Spaniard that he wanted to continue drinking. As Mark started to drive off, his drunken companion quieten down, resting his head by the side of the headrest, seemingly drifted off to sleep. Mark had to admit to himself that he found the drunk Fernando looked rather adorable, with his flushed cheeks and occasion incoherent mumbles which sounded Spanish. As they reached Fernando’s apartment, Mark had to pull him out of the car as he was still in a drunken stupor and took care not to let him hit his head as he exited clumsily from the car. Fernando in his semi-conscious state leaned heavily on Mark, with his head resting on the taller man’s shoulder. The Australian could not help the skip in his heartbeat with Fernando so close to him, especially with his soft glossy curls gently tickling his cheek. However, he forced himself to not let his mind wander and concentrated on guiding his colleague back home. After some struggle in getting the keys from Fernando’s pocket, Mark finally got him into his apartment and settled him onto the bed in the only bedroom of the small apartment. Mark made sure Fernando was comfortable by removing his shoes and socks, and covered him with a blanket. The Spaniard seemed to have fallen asleep but Mark could still see a sad expression from the lines of his mouth and the small frown in his brow. Seeing his messy mop of curls covering part of his face, Mark gently smoothed them back. He was surprised with the feelings stirred within him as he run his fingers through the Spaniard’s hair. He forced himself to withdraw his hand and was just about to turn and leave when his hand was caught and he heard a plea from the seemingly asleep man. 

“Please don’t go, please don’t leave me again….” This was followed by some mumbled call to someone with what sounded like a girl’s name and more pleas to not go. Mark was torn, he knew he should leave but Fernando’s hand was gripping his tightly and his pleas sounded so sad and heart-wrenching. He did not have the heart to pry his own hand free so he let Fernando held on to his hand while he continued to mumble pleas to the unknown girl to not leave him. Mark was tempted to give him a hug, thinking that perhaps it would help to calm him down, but thought better of it. Fernando was obviously in distress over a girl who had left him, there was nothing Mark could do to make him feel better, except to let him hold his hand. Perhaps in his drunken state, he had mistaken Mark’s rather masculine hand as that of his former girlfriend’s. The thought of this strange confusion made Mark chuckle as he somehow felt a dislike for the unknown girl who had caused his colleague to be in such distress, even though he had no idea of the circumstances that led to it. It was just that seeing Fernando so sad and vulnerable made him feel upset, though Mark could not for the life of him explain why he was so affected. Eventually, Fernando calmed down and his grip on Mark’s hand loosen. The latter took the opportunity to tuck his hand back under the covers and after checking one more time that the sleeping man was well settled, left the apartment. 

 

Following that incident, Mark did not have any further social interaction with Fernando. He wasn’t even sure if the Spaniard remembered that he sent him home. They had a few opportunities to work together on several cases of young patients with heart issues. They got to know each other better on a professional level. Mark was impressed with Fernando’s dedication and professionalism, and enjoyed working with him. However, there was not much chance to know him better on a personal level, as their work interactions were often very much focused on the patients they were both trying to help.

Mark had on occasions, in fact far too many that he would care to admit, thought back to that night when he sent Fernando home. He thought of how vulnerable he looked as he laid on the bed pleading to an unknown person not to leave him. Just who could this girl be and why did she leave Fernando? More perplexing to Mark, however, was the strong sense of protection he felt towards the Spaniard each time he thought of him. As he was not able to explain to himself why he felt this way, he chose to suppress all thoughts of the other man, even though he was not as successful as he would have liked.

So it was that now the same man was standing in the heavy rain, soaked to his skin, and looking hesitantly at him. The same urge to protect him arose strongly. He realised that Fernando probably could not recognise him in the mist of the rain so he quickly grabbed an umbrella from his car and exited to walk towards the standing man. 

“Hey mate, having a nice shower in the storm?” Mark jokingly said, as he held the umbrella offering a temporary shelter from the rain.

By now Fernando finally recognised his colleague, the tall, handsome cardiologist with a great sense of humour.

He answered with a small smile, “Hola, Dr Webber. Yeah, run out of water in the hospital so got to do this to keep clean after a long day at work.”

Mark chuckled, “That’s pretty extreme. You looked like you are freezing though. Let’s get you out of the rain. I can give you a ride.”

“Thanks Dr Webber, but I’m all wet. I don’t think I should ruin the seat of your car.”

“Nonsense. Don’t worry about such a small thing, come.” 

Mark gently guided Fernando towards his car and opened the door to the passenger seat for the Spaniard to get seated before jogging round the car to get in the driver’s seat.

Fernando was literally dripping wet and he apologised for the mess he was creating which Mark quickly dismissed. He was also shivering with cold despite being out of the rain. Mark removed his own jacket and wrapped it around Fernando, countering the latter’s objection by saying that he wouldn’t want to see Fernando catch a chill and fall ill. The Spaniard apologised again for the trouble he was creating and looked rather embarrassed with his cheeks flushed. Mark tried to alleviate his awkwardness by joking that he was just helping the hospital by making sure that Fernando didn’t have a reason to be absent from work by falling ill. The Spaniard laughed lightly and praised Mark for being such a model employee. This light-hearted exchange helped to put Fernando at ease, as he snuggled into the warmth of Mark’s jacket and finally relaxed a little on the passenger seat. 

Mark offered to send Fernando home, but the latter explained that he went for a run and left his keys, wallet and other things in the office. He was on his way back to the hospital to retrieve them before he could head home. The Aussie was about to make U-turn to send Fernando back to the hospital when he noticed the long unmoving traffic jam in the opposite direction. He reckoned it would take much longer than usual to reach the hospital despite it not being very far away. Not wanting Fernando to stay soaked for long, he came up with an idea and articulated it before further thought.

“I could drive you back to the office but look at the traffic opposite, it would take at least half an hour to drive the short distance back. My place is just ten minutes away. Why don’t we head to my place where you can at least dry off and warm up a bit? You really look like you’re half frozen.”

“Oh,” Fernando looked rather surprised at Mark’s suggestion, “but I can’t trouble you so much. Yeah the traffic look rather bad. Maybe I can borrow your umbrella and walk back? It shouldn’t take that long.”

“Mate, you were limping. Don’t know what happened, but you didn’t look very comfortable walking just now.”

“I had a bit of a fall and twisted my ankle, nothing too serious.” 

“Ah, all the more we should go with my suggestion. Don’t worry about the trouble, I can get home earlier this way too. Let’s go!”

Without further hesitation, Mark started driving towards his apartment. Fernando did not further protest but thanked Mark for his help. They chatted a bit along the way and Fernando told Mark what happened during his jog which led to his twisted ankle.

Soon, they reached Mark’s apartment. After they exited the car, he led Fernando towards the elevator and went up to his place. The apartment was small but very neatly kept. Mark quickly ushered the Spaniard to the bathroom for a warm shower, handing him a pair of his own hoodie and joggers. He then took out two portions of the soup he kept in his fridge and started warming it up for dinner. 

Fernando came out of the shower shortly, dressed in Mark’s clothes. The warmth and comfort was very much welcomed although he felt rather shy as he thought about this unusual situation that he found himself in. . Mark thought he looked adorable in his clothes which was obviously too big, with the hoodie hanging long and pants rolled up. Again he felt that stirring within him which he tried to quickly dismiss.

“Feeling better?” Mark asked with a smile.

“Yeah, much better. Thanks for all this. I’m sorry…” Fernando tried to apologise again but was quickly cut off by Mark.

“Ah, no more apologies, you have said it far too many times, Fernando. Relax a bit, mate.” 

Mark realised that he had gone from using his colleague’s formal name as he usually did in the hospital to using his first name. He loved the sound of his name, it suited him so well and it felt so natural to call him that. Fortunately his colleague did not seem to find anything amiss as well.

He proceeded to hand Fernando a mug of hot tea. “Here, drink this. It’s ginger tea with a bit of lemon. Helps to get rid of the chills. Let me look at ankle too.”

Fernando was touched by Mark’s thoughtfulness as he accepted the mug with thanks and took a sip of the tea. It was spicy but very comforting to drink. Mark led him to the couch and gently examined his ankle.

“This is great. Really warms me up. Thanks Mark. ” Fernando had sub-consciously followed Mark’s lead and called him by his first name. Something which pleased Mark. He loved how his own name rolled off Fernando’s tongue.

“I think my ankle isn’t too bad, just a bit sore,” the Spaniard continued.

“Yeah, nothing broken, just a little swollen. I’ll apply a cold compress to ease the swelling.” 

Mark went to retrieve the said item as he continued talking, “The tea is my mom’s secret recipe. She’d make sure I know how to make this tea, knowing the dreadful weather that we get over here in England.”

"Well, thanks to your mom then. My mother also sent me many of her recipes so that I won’t starve on my own.”

Mark applied the cold pack to Fernando’s injured ankle and kept it in place with a compression bandage. “That should do it, leave it on for about 15 mins.”

“Yes, doctor!” Fernando said with a cheeky smile.

Mark chuckled, “Well, you are not too bad a patient, considering that doctors make the worst patients. And since you are now my patient, I think I have an obligation to make sure you don’t starve and feed you dinner. It’s another of my mom’s secret recipe, a nice warm hearty beef and vegetable soup. I made it a couple of days earlier and am reheating it now for our dinner.”

“Oh, but I….” Fernando felt rather embarrassed as he felt he was imposing on Mark too much.

“Come on, mate. What did I say just now, relax yeah?” 

There was nothing Fernando could do but agree to Mark’s invitation to stay on for dinner. He was really hungry anyway and the aroma from the heated soup smelled great. Mark jumped into the shower while the soup finished heating with Fernando offering to help him watch it. As he came out, the sight of the Spaniard stirring the soup over the stove presented a wonderful picture to him. It was such a simple thing but the domesticity of it was so appealing to Mark. It looked like Fernando really belonged in his home, despite him being there for not more than half an hour. Mark’s thoughts were of course unknown to Fernando, and the Spaniard further complicated things for him by looking up at that instant and smiled a dazzling smile right at him. 

“Smells wonderful, you are a pretty good cook!” 

Mark was able to recover himself in time to reply simply, “ Thanks for the compliment. Like mother like son, I guess.”

He quickly dished out the soup in two large bowls and served it with some warm toasted bread. As they ate, they chatted about a wide range of topics, first on work and the happenings in the hospital, then progressing to things that they do during the little down time they had. They discovered that they had quite a few common interests, like in cooking, traveling, cycling, and both were fans of motorsport, in particular Formula 1. They chatted about the sport and their favourite teams and drivers, each of them naturally supporting drivers from their own native countries.

Before they realised it, it was past ten o’clock. The food had long been finished but they were so engrossed in talking to each other that more than two hours went past in a flash. The rain was still pouring outside, but Fernando thought that it was time for him to go. 

“Thank you so much for helping me out and the delicious dinner. It’s getting late and I really should be going. I’ll get a cab, should be easier to get one at this time.”

“Not on a rainy Friday night, I don’t think. I can drive you back home, but you’ll need to get your stuff from the office. We can head to the hospital first but I really don’t think you should put weight on your ankle too much, at least for tonight.” Mark paused before continuing,“ If you don’t mind, you can spend the night here. Your ankle should be much better tomorrow so it’ll be easier to move around.”

Fernando knew that Mark’s reasoning was sound. His ankle still hurt, and he really didn’t fancy going out again in the rain this time of the night. He felt so comfortable here with Mark. But he felt that he was imposing too much on a fellow colleague, who had been so kind and helpful to him all night.

“Thanks Mark for your kind offer. But you have already helped me so much tonight. I really should leave you to rest.”

“No worries about that. We had such a good chat, sure beats me eating my dinner alone and reading another medical journal! And you staying here will not disturb me, unless you snore like thunder.” Mark teased.

Fernando laughed and assured Mark that he did not snore, but just felt that he had already imposed too much on him. His protestations were waved away however, and in the end, he accepted Mark’s offer to stay the night. 

With that arrangement finally settled, they decided to catch up on some sports on TV as both did not feel ready to retire for the night yet. They managed to catch a repeat of the F1 race that took place the week before which both missed, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time watching the race together, as they cheered, dissected and analysed each move and strategy call during the race.

When they decided to call it a night, Mark brought out some pillows and a warm blanket for Fernando, who insisted on sleeping on the couch, even though the Aussie offered him the use of his room while he himself use the couch. Luckily for the Spaniard, the couch was a very comfortable one in the form of an L-shape. There was more than enough room for him to stretch out on the long seat which formed the bed for him. As Fernando settled in for the night, Mark went into his room. 

The Spaniard was soon fast asleep as he was quite tired after having had such a busy day. His host, however, had a much more difficult time to fall asleep, despite having a similarly long day. Mark tossed and turned on his bed and tried to sleep, but his thoughts kept turning to the man just outside his room. He really enjoyed the evening spent with Fernando. While he was sorry that he had to suffer the twisted ankle and being drenched in the cold rain, Mark could not help but felt thankful for being there to spot Fernando in the rain at the right time, and getting the chance to spend time with him and knowing him better.

By now, Mark had to admit to himself that he really liked Fernando. His gorgeous looks were indeed very appealing to him, but more importantly, after knowing him better, Mark realised that the Spaniard was someone whom he would really enjoy spending more time with. Not to mention that they actually did have many common interests and Mark could easily imagine both of them having a great time cycling, cooking, attending a race, heck, even traveling together. At this point in his thoughts though, Mark had to stop himself from going too far. “Geez man, you are starting to imagine your whole life together after just one evening. Crazy!” He laughed at himself as he tried to dismiss any further thoughts of what else he could do together with Fernando.

As he laid on his bed, finding sleep hard to come by, Mark felt that he was thirsty (or so he decided) and went to get a drink in the kitchen. He opened his room door quietly and padded softly to the small kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. It had finally stopped raining. The sky had cleared and moonlight shone through the small kitchen window. The soft glow of the moon enabled Mark to see the sleeping form of the man laid on his couch. 

Fernando was comfortably burrowed under the blanket and was fast asleep. His features looked so relaxed and he looked so young. Mark remembered the last occasion when he was with a sleeping Fernando. Then his features were lined with sadness as he mumbled pleas to a certain someone not to leave him. Mark again felt that stirring within him, of wanting to protect Fernando and keeping him safe. He felt a sense of contentment in being able to see the Spaniard warm and comfortable in his house tonight. But he was also reminded by the memory of that earlier night that Fernando’s heart was engaged elsewhere. Mark could not help the sinking feeling in his heart. 

He had already admitted to himself that he liked Fernando, and now seeing him sleeping so comfortably in his own home, he wished that it would be something that could really happen on a more permanent basis. At this moment, Mark realised that his own heart had certainly been touched. Alas, whether this would ever develop into something more was highly doubtful. As he walked slowly and reluctantly back to his room, he knew that this would indeed be a long night.


End file.
